Planning Minister says: Govt aims at 2% poverty cut a year

Planning Minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie says the Government is aiming to reduce poverty by two per cent annually. He made the point yesterday as he addressed the fourth in a series of consultations with civil society groups at the San Fernando City Hall, Harris Promenade. The discussions are centred on the formation of a Civil Society Board. Tewarie said among major issues the Government had to address would be how to deal with poverty and developing strategies to reduce poverty by two per cent, which was equivalent to 6,000 people rising out of poverty every year. “That is 1,500 households per year,” he noted.

Another issue, Tewarie said, was the growing number of people coming out of the university system. He said it was estimated that 5,000 students would emerge with bachelor’s and master’s degrees a year, over the next five years. “That is 25,000 graduates...How do you absorb them into the system?” he asked. He said the Government was looking at new areas to diversify the economy.

Tewarie and Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister Rodger Samuel met with representatives of various non-governmental groups to gauge their opinion on the way forward toward sustainable development. Tewarie said that in areas such as Nariva, Mayaro and Sangre Grande, there were “great deficits” in terms of human development that require policy development. To address this, he said, it was necessary to create access to opportunities and address gaps in development. Tewarie said civil society would be given a voice in influencing the economic direction of T&T.

“The Civil Society Board will engage on behalf of the civil society organisations, the Economic Development Board. Therefore they will have an input in economic policy and planning and they will have an input into economic decision making,” he said. Tewarie said there were various groups in different regions with shared concerns and the board would “force all civil society organisations around a single issue to come together to have a position that brings together community views on national perspective and on the basis of that they will get the opportunity to elect somebody to the board.”